Projects:

• Sustainable
  Regional
  Development
  • Fellowship for Regional Sustainable Development (Rd I)
  • Greater Boston Economic Development Strategy
  • Portland (OR) Economic Development Strategy
  • Economic Development Toolbox Envision Utah
  • Regional Business Civic Initiative (Minding Their Civic Business)
  • Double Bottom Line Handbook
  • MetroBusinessNet
  • Economic Development Strategy for Northern Pennsylvania
  • Northern New England Family Economic Success
  • Other ED Projects & Initiatives
• Workforce Development & Postsecondary Education
  • Wine Industry Skills Assessment
  • Building a 21st Century Community College (Indiana)
  • Seattle Regional Skill Building Collaborative
  • Greater Washington DC Health Care Assessment
  • CSH Employment Toolkit
  • High Skills for High Growth Careers
  • Pathways to Advancement
  • Other WD Projects and Initiatives

Greater Boston Economic Development Strategy

The Metropolitan Area Planning Commission (MAPC) in Boston hired FutureWorks to complete two projects to secure the region’s economic future. The first was to develop a region-wide comprehensive economic development plan. The completed plan includes detailed economic analysis, but also identifies a series of cross-cutting issues that demonstrate the interrelated nature of the region’s competitive challenges and the need for greater institutional involvement to solve them.

Read the full report of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy here. Note that the portion of the document that includes the cross cutting challenges begins on page 28 of the PDF and is called “Insuring Greater Boston’s Prosperity: An Analysis of Competitive Challenges to Sustained Economic Development in Metropolitan Boston.”

MAPC also hired FutureWorks to develop and carry out a strategy to engage business leadership in Boston Metro's regional planning process. This planning process, called MetroFuture, is a regional vision and growth strategy created by and for the residents of the 101 communities in Metropolitan Boston. The short-term goal of the contract was to systematically engage business leadership from the Boston region in the five-phase structure of the MetroFuture Initiative. The long-term goal of the contract was to further institutionalize Boston area business engagement on issues of regionalism, smart growth and social equity.

Stephen Michon and Erin Flynn of FutureWorks published an article in CommonWealth magazine, called Envision This, that challenges greater Boston’s business community to step up and lead on regional development issues. The article is based on research from this project.